Hayfever Reviews

Quick Description: -Hayfever is an adorable but tough as nails precision platformer. You play as a cute mailman that sneezes his way around extremely challenging platforming gauntlets. There's a ton of charm here, although it's quite rough around the edges. What's Good: -This looks like a very casual, cute platformer, but it is much more challenging than what you would expect. I think this is probably it's greatest strength. You will challenged pretty quickly, especially after the first set of 30 levels. I'd say that Hayfever is far tougher than the average game in this genre, although everything is manageable w/ enough practice. -There is a good amount of content here. There are 4 worlds and 140+ levels. I only completed about 2/3 of the game and didn't collect all of the optional pieces of mail. Collecting all the mail offers the greatest challenge in the game. You will probably need to put in at least 10-15 hrs in order to finish up everything. -I'm a sucker for pixel art and Hayfever has solid pixel art. Each set of levels has a different theme and focuses on different colors and textures. All of the characters involved in the story are all adorable and have very detailed pixel art as well. -Each world has a final boss which will be quite a challenge. Some bosses are complex chase scenes while others are standard boss battles where you'll need to memorize their movement patterns. The bosses are well designed and offer a fun challenge. Could Use Some Changes: -I noticed that the dash button felt a bit inconsistent. dashing while moving on the ground works like a charm. However, whenever you jump and dash at the same time, the dash button felt far less reliable. I always felt that I had to really hold down the direction and dash button really hard. Trying to quickly change directions is not as smooth as I would like. -It's quite rough around the edges. Some levels have some very oddly placed spikes or barriers that are simply there to block you from exiting the platforming sections. Other areas can be hard to even tell visually what the game is asking for within the platforming sections. This didn't happen all the time, but it happened periodically. -I found the gamplay to be slightly repetitive as the major mechanic of sneezing doesn't really evolve. Yes, there are plenty of environmental hazards and fun mechanics introduced, but nothing really groundbreaking or truly innovative. 30 levels per world felt a bit too much. I would have loved an additional world and 20-25 levels per world max. Thoughts: -Hayfever is a fun, challenging, and charming precision platformer that will offer quite the test for even the most seasoned player. There are better games in the genre, but I still think this is very much worth recommending. If you are a fan of the genre, snag this bad boy on a sale and test yourself w/ some hardcore platforming sections. Consensus: -Middle of the Road Game (Tier 4 and makes up 25% of my reviews). I had a good time during my 4-5 hrs playing Hayfever. It didn't rock my world in the way that better games in the genre have, but it was still a really fun experience overall. If you are looking for a nice gem in the rough, snag it right now during the Winter Sale for less than $5 and have a great time.

Precision platformer with a lovely presentation and a really nice spin on standard dash mechanics. Gradually builds up the challenge and the hard world is brutal, but the main story remains accessible. Great fun! Check out https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41559946 for more recommendations!

Weirdly fun little platformer that truly takes it's mechanics to the limit. While it can be a bit dull visually, the mechanics are tight and the sense of weight is really fun. Nothing is wasted, a pretty good time. If you enjoy tight pure platformers like super meatboy, give this a shot.

A true hidden gem of the "precision platformer" genre. Really well designed levels as well as movement mechanics. A lot of the power-ups and level mechanics are unique and fun, but a couple (namely the red orbs-similar to the ones in Celeste) require incredibly quick and precise direction input, which can be tough to achieve consistently. Nothing that takes away from the overall experience though. I bought this on Switch a couple years ago. Got an itch to play a good platformer and ended up playing through Hayfever once again on PC. So nice I played through twice :) Absolutely check this game out if you're looking for a good precision platformer

Disclaimer: My scores/reviews are almost always based on having bought the game at close to the "lowest historical price" on steam at time of purchase. Quick score: 5/5 Notes: Some of the level design and mechanics can feel slightly clunky at times, but overall great platformer with a ton of content. Game starts off deceptively easy but gets fairly challenging pretty quickly past the 1st world. Music and visuals are great as well, but that should be apparent from the trailer. One of the most underrated platformers on steam.

Good Dustforce/Celeste inspired platformer. (+) Good level of challenge without being frustrating (for the most part). (+) Good learning and difficulty curve. (+) Last world is a great challenge. (+) Interesting use of the dash reset mechanic. The player will use the dash reset to do many of the plataforming challenges, it is interesting how they recontextualize the dash reset to be a environmental hazard in certain sections. (-) The presentention can a be a bit gross sometimes, but nothing extreme like the binding of isaac. (-) There are some technical issues around one mechanic in the game that may cause some deaths and frustration, but its not that frequent and wasnt a big detriment in my experience. If you liked the dash reset mechanic and challenge of games like Celeste or Dustforce, this is a good pick. However, during boss fights, this game is less generous with the checkpoints than Celeste, so it requires some level of patience from the player in the later and more challenging parts.

Really fun precision platformer. The main ability is being able to dash by sneezing, and this dash has varying levels of power depending on how much dust you hit before using it. The level design is really well done, and the gameplay is super satisfying. There are 4 worlds + a hard mode world, each of which introducing new mechanics to the game, keeping it fresh throughout. It often goes on sale 75% off, and at that price, it's an absolute steal! Recommended even at full price, especially if you're a platformer fan. It does get fairly difficult in the later levels, but with most levels having multiple checkpoints, it's something anyone can get through with enough practice.

Holy cow, this game is a hidden gem if there ever was one. It's all the best parts of games like Celeste and Super Meat Boy and then some. The core mechanic is a sneeze which functions like Madeline's dash, except it gets stronger and refreshes every time you collect pollen. There's very clever things done with this. It's the right amount of difficult too without feeling frustrating, you don't have to do an incredibly large amount of inputs but when you get it right, it feels so good. The subsequent worlds also add on some new mechanics, from becoming a balloon to a peanut allergy which makes you stick to walls. And while these levels did not expand on the existing mechanics as well, they mixed them up in a genius way. Sometimes you'll be zooming along, other times carefully planning your next sneeze. It just all feels so right. I should mention also that there are bosses, but they're not frustrating and more platform focused, some of them are long winded but once you find a pattern you start to chug away at it bit by bit.

Although I enjoyed most of the time I spent on the game, it's very lackluster given the price tag. Lots of the levels feel samey which becomes especially apparent after unlocking the Hard World, where the stages mostly require the player to beat their regular equivalents, but with a ton more spikes and enemies, without any creative spins whatsoever. The platforming itself is solid, but rough around the edges, I encountered a few bugs, one softlock and throughout the 8 hours I've played I couldn't fully get used to the delay that sometimes happens when trying to dash (therefore requiring to hold the button down for like a dozen frames instead of quickly tapping it). The bosses felt unnecessary and poorly designed, and only one of them was relevant to the story (very bland and simple, mind you). Music was all right, cheerful and didn't get annoying after a while, same with the graphics. The biggest problems lie in the mechanics themselves as explained above. Overall, I could recommend the game if it cost like 3-4 dollars, but anything more than that seems like asking for too much given how unpolished it is.

Jump refreshers have always been a mechanic I've enjoyed in games, and Hayfever really takes it to the next level. You can sneeze (dash) in 8 directions and these refreshers will both recharge your sneeze and make it more powerful depending on how many you pick up before executing it. On top of that, Hayfever introduces new mechanics that keep the gameplay fresh with each chapter. There are secrets and collectibles aplenty to be found within the game's numerous stages. The collectibles are relatively obvious, but usually require a bit more precision than simply clearing the level demands. Secrets are very well hidden and will force the player to explore a little bit and really pay attention. The difficulty curve is fairly smooth throughout the game, but it does get quite hard by the end. Players who aren't familiar with the genre might have some trouble in the later portions of the game. Thankfully, death isn't punished harshly and there are numerous checkpoints across each stage which allow for as many attempts as needed. All in all, Hayfever is a unique precision platformer that is unlike other games I've played on Steam and definitely worth a look if you're interested in the genre.